FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

‘Superb’ CONCORA choir to perform with Hartford Symphony Orchestra October 22 at The Bushnell

Local professional choir joins HSO for opening of 2016-2017 HSO POPS! season

HARTFORD AND NEW BRITAIN, CONN. (October 3, 2016) — CONCORA (Connecticut Choral Artists) will be featured with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra on for a performance of the 2016 Emmy Award-winning Danny Elfman’s Music from the Films of Tim Burton. CONCORA, the region’s oldest all-professional choral ensemble, is known for its mastery of a diverse repertoire and its extraordinary range of choral color and dynamic range. CONCORA’s performance with the HSHO, which opens the season for the orchestra’s POPS! Series, will be presented Saturday, October 22, 2016, at 7:30 pm in Mortensen Hall at The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford.

The program explores the collaborative relationship between music and storytelling and its importance in the filmmaking process. Composer Danny Elfman and visionary Hollywood filmmaker Tim Burton have created a unique concert experience, blending music and visuals to celebrate their three decades-long partnership. This live concert features Danny Elfman’s celebrated film scores brought to life on stage by the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and CONCORA, enhanced by the stunning visuals of Tim Burton’s original sketches, drawings, story boards, and film clips rendered in exquisite detail on a large projection screen. The program features music from Batman, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Alice in Wonderland, and more – plus, in the HSO's words, "the superb CONCORA choir!"

About CONCORA (Connecticut Choral Artists) – CONCORA (Connecticut Choral Artists) holds a unique place as the region’s first professional choir. Now in its 43rd season, the ensemble enjoys an extraordinary reputation for artistic excellence throughout New England. Under the direction of Chris Shepard, now in his second season as Artistic Director, the ensemble’s versatility is displayed in its wide range of repertoire and in the crafting of select ensembles from among the choir’s roster of singers to produce an extraordinary range of choral color and dynamic range for each program and performance space. CONCORA’s mission statement – “to perpetuate and perform with excellence choral music of the highest quality for the broadest possible audience” – represents a commitment to the Connecticut community and to artistic excellence, masterful performances, and educational enrichment. CONCORA’s educational outreach program includes several highly successful projects. CONCORA extends special invitations to other choruses, especially children’s, high school and college ensembles, as a regular part of its concert programming, particularly the “Extraordinary Concerts,” where the ensemble collaborates with select high school choirs. CONCORA’s Summer Festival offers adult singers from the community and select high school and college singers an opportunity to join with CONCORA in rehearsing and performing great choral works. For children, the CONCORA-to-Go quartet presents an interactive, multicultural program, “Around the World in Music,” performed in area elementary schools and public libraries. More information about CONCORA is available at http://concora.org.

About Chris Shepard – Chris Shepard has served as CONCORA’s Artistic Director since 2015, succeeding founder Richard Coffey in that role. He also serves as Music Director of the Worcester Chorus and the Masterwork Chorus of Morristown, New Jersey. With these choirs, Chris has performed a wide range of repertoire, collaborating with a number of major orchestras in venues that include Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and Radio City Music Hall in New York, as well as the Royal Festival Hall in London and the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. A conductor with a particular affinity for the choral music of J.S. Bach, Chris founded the Sydneian Bach Choir in Sydney, Australia, an ensemble that has performed all of Bach’s choral cantatas as well as all of his major choral works. He has taught at the Taft School, Sydney Grammar School and Holy Cross College. A pianist and keyboard continuist, Chris holds degrees from the Hartt School and the Yale School of Music, and the University of Sydney. His PhD dissertation won the American Choral Directors Association’s 2012 Julius Herford Prize for outstanding doctoral thesis in choral music. A fuller bio of Chris Shepard is available at http://concora.org/artistic-director/.

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For more information, or to schedule an interview with Christopher Shepard, please contact:

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The purpose of the Greater New Britain Arts Alliance is to promote the creative, performing and visual arts, to provide a unified voice for the arts organizations, to serve as a catalyst for arts-related collaborations, to nurture individual creative abilities, and to advocate the arts as vital to the economic health and quality of life in the region.